Cupidphants
by StrawberryRemedies
Summary: They say an elephant never forgets, but a few elephants also always know best.  The elephants at the circus have this talent, and it's about time they let it shine.


**A few days behind schedule, but at least I got it out. I've always wanted to do an ongoing story, and I've been meaning to write something involving Joker. Thus, "Cupidphants" was born. I actually really enjoyed writing this, (who wouldn't enjoy writing about elephants?" and I therefore hope that you guys enjoy reading it. See you at the end! ^^**

**Disclaimer: I don't own, so you don't sue. Thank you! :D**

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"I swear I'm going in circles." Alice muttered as she walked past the now-too-familiar tree once again, the initials she'd carved into the base mocking her constant wrong turns . She'd been in the forest for hours trying to find the circus so she could change the seasons; if she'd of had to spend one more day in winter she'd die of frost bite.

Determined not to end up like Ace, Alice made her way passed the tree for what was hopefully the last time in the direction that she felt was most north-ish.

At first Alice stayed completely focused on the way she was heading; but having seen nothing but trees all day her mind eventually began to wander and her eyes payed no attention to the direction she was heading nor what was in front of her. However, this didn't seem to hinder Alice's progress; until she suddenly found herself face-to-dirt with the forest floor. Sputtering out dirt and grass she lifted herself off the ground and turned to face her perpetrator, yet all she saw behind her was level ground. Confused as to how she could trip over flat ground, Alice turned to continue her journey to the circus, only to find herself landing promptly on her ass and staring at what could only be described as a rather large gray rock.

"I'm pretty sure rocks don't get that big; especially in the forest." Alice mused as she crawled towards the boulder and gave it a good nudge. She immediately coiled back as the rock began to slightly quiver, much to her surprise. Being what one would call a seasoned wonderland veteran, their were very few things that she generally found unexpected: giant pet rocks were one of them. Inching closer to get a better look, Alice swore that she saw the faint outline of a mouth. Her face now mere inches from the rock, she took in its wrinkly texture and began to analyze a particularly distinguished wrinkle shaped like a small half moon. Without warning the protruding wrinkle lazily opened to reveal a swiveling brown iris. Startled Alice found herself once again backing up as the 'pet rock' began to unfurl.

Two front legs, two hind legs, then a trunk, followed by a pair of floppy ears. Alice watched in awe as the rock slowly turned into what she recognized as a baby elephant. Except for its ears, which seemed rather small for an elephant, it looked just like the ones she'd seen pictures of in her story books. Her courage coming back, Alice advanced towards the elephant and stuck out her hand, descending it slowly until it rested gently on the elephants back before rubbing it back and forth, earning a pleasant trumpet from the young elephant.

"Now what's a cute thing like you doing in a place like this? My guess is your from Joker's circus, right?" The elephant gave long trumpet, which Alice took as a confirmation to her question.

"If you're from the circus then why aren't you there now?" Alice lightly gasped as the elephant pointed to it's foremost right leg, which had a bloody, but shallow flesh wound. Feeling pitty for the poor animal, Alice quickly untied the ribbon from her hair and wrapped it around the elephants scrape. The pachyderm lightly leaned on the bandaged appendage several times before deeming it better and walking to where Alice hoped was the circus. ' I guess while exploring it got hurt and couldn't move.' Alice decided as she followed the baby elephant back to ,where she assumed, was his home; the Joker's circus.

Within a matter of minutes her hopes had been confirmed as the familiar reds, blacks and yellows seeped through the tree boughs and came into plain sight. The young elephant gave a low trumpet as they stopped in front of the circus tent, causing Alice to give a slight giggle. 'I guess elephants never forget and never get lost; maybe I should get Ace one for Christmas.' Before she could give the idea too much thought the little elephant gave several strong tugs on the edge of her dress. Becoming successful in getting the attention it wanted, it hobbled ahead a little ways and motioned for Alice to follow before entering inside one of the larger side tents. Having followed the elephant this far, Alice figured that a little more follow-the-leader wouldn't hurt as she pushed back the flap and entered the tent.

Inside a dozen elephants of all sizes were lined in rows along the sides of the tent. As Alice walked through the center she couldn't help but notice the picket signs in front of each one; Tantar, Hathi, Horton, Nelson, Phanpy, Eugene, Heffalump, Kabumpo, and Snorky. 'Those must be their names', Alice concurred as she came to a stop in front of the final two elephants. "Babar and Ella." "That is what the sign says." Alice quickly turned around to see the half-amused face of Joker standing right behind her."Ah! J-Joker, I was looking for you."  
"In the elephants tent; which I might add is off limits to those who don't work here" Joker was now fully amused as Alice flushed in embarrassment at how easily he'd shot down her excuse. " "Y-yes... No! I-I mean...It's complicated!" She answered, but Joker didn't seem to be paying attention nor looking at her. In fact, he appered to be looking at the top of her head if anything. Becoming self-conscious under his gaze Alice lifted her hand to the top of her head. Not feeling anything abnormal she didn't think there was a problem, but Joker did.

"What happened to your hair ribbon? From what I've seen I'm pretty sure you always wear one." Upon hearing that that's what had caught his gaze, Alice couldn't help but chuckle; succeeding in confusing the Joker more until she told him about the her adventure with the baby elephant. The red-head gave a sigh as he heard her explanation, shaking his head lightly as he replied 'You mean that dumbo there?' before pointing underneath the elephant named Ella. Looking in between her legs Alice spotted the baby with her ribbon wrapped around its leg; waving at her warmly with it's trunk. "Yup, that's the d-Hey! I'll have you know that happens to be the smartest baby elephant I've meet." The Joker just stared at her as if she'd told him that straight men grew roses before retorting: "Then you obviously haven't seen many elephants, besides I was only calling it by its name." In disbelief, Alice turned to the picket signs once again. Sure enough, right underneath the sign that said 'Babar and Ella' was another one that had the name 'Dumbo' written in large, scrawly blue cursive. Now turning to look at 'Dumbo', Alice couldn't even comprehend how it looked like it's storybook namesake; especially since this Dumbo's ears were smaller than a normal elephants, while the fictional one's ears where larger than any others.

Deciding that pondering the thought wouldn't do her any good, Alice let loose a sigh before asking Joker if she could visit the baby elephant again so she could retrieve her ribbon when it had healed. "Hmm, I don't see why, considering you look better without it anyway" The red-head said with an innocent air as Alice's face reddened with an annoying blush. "It's my ribbon and I eventually want it back! And besides; I want to make sure his wound is healing nicely, since I'm the one who helped him after all." The Joker seemed to consider this before changing his previous answer. "Hnn, fine, but you still look better without the ribbon." And with that he walked out of the tent, a single playing card falling out of his vest and next to the elephants fence. Annoyed at his suggestions, but happy he'd said yes Alice just stood there and took in the enourmousness of the elephants once again; before remembering the reason she'd come and running to have Joker save her from a frost-bitten hell. Meanwhile, Ella was looking over at her son; he was playing just fine with the other elephants without any signs of pain at putting pressure on his right front leg. Catching his mothers curious gaze, Dumbo just pointed to the blue ribbon, then to the playing card on the floor, then specifically to the heart on the ribbon before continuing to play with his other elephant friends.

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**Ending notes: Before anybody asks, yes, I had to throw a 'gay hatter' joke in there, but you know you liked it ;P Also yes, the names of ALL the elephants were taken from somewhat 'infamous' elephants. Kudos to anyone who knows where any/all are from. Hell, maybe I'll even give a prize to whoever gets the most *shrugs* the prize would probably be either choosing what I update, a one-shot or maybe both, but the entire things still a giant maybe.  
****Until then REVIEW! This is going to be an ongoing series, and I'd hate to get halfway through and find out people are OOC and that there were things I could've fixed/improved :/**  
**'Till next chapter! :D**


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